


under the orange sun (we’re dancing without a shadow)

by domitaes



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Male My Unit | Byleth, Post-Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Post-Golden Deer Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), claude is a sap about his husband and daughter, i named her after jeralt because i'm a sappy mess, it's not really any hurt claude just cries because he's really happy, so many pet names, they have a daughter her name is jeryn don't ask how she got there, they're married and have a happy ending go away, um kind of LKJSDHFK, usage of God Shattering Star
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:07:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24103351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/domitaes/pseuds/domitaes
Summary: Despite the traditionalist ideals he prides himself on, Claude has never had the traditional family. His memories of his parents were faint, while his grandfather and House Riegan never had a large presence in his life. For the longest time, it had only been Claude on his own to fend for himself… until Byleth came along and painted his life in stars, in miracles, in love.Or, Claude cries really hard while experiencing so much love for his beloved family.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 16
Kudos: 54





	under the orange sun (we’re dancing without a shadow)

**Author's Note:**

> there isn't enough mbyleth x claude content in the fandom and i think that's homophobic so i've decided i'm going to contribute more of it
> 
> this is also my first fe3h fic ever omg fic debut
> 
> anyways i made this concept up back in like march but forget about writing it because i had a month long breakdown and stress-wrote the rest of this at 4 am to get over it! i haven't tried to write an actual fic since taegi week 2019 so i'm out of practice, but i hope it's passable? i just have too many thoughts about m!claudeleth and i need the public to know about it please my 40 pages of concepts
> 
> much thanks to my friend ruby for beta-ing <3 enjoy domestic fluff because i think claude and byleth deserve it
> 
> title from eight (prod&ft. suga) by iu (stream it!!!)

“Hold the sword by the grip, darling, not the pommel,” Byleth says, his voice low and rough but his eyes fond and sweet. He removes the wooden sword from Jeryn’s grasp with a gentle hand. “You won’t be able to fight well against even the weakest of enemies if you hold it like that.”

Jeryn, the sweet little angel she is in Claude’s eyes, babbles and smiles up at her father as she grabs the sword at the proper handhold. The blade immediately falls to the ground with a _thunk_ , Jeryn’s hands still around the hilt. She gives a noise of shock and surprise as the point buries itself in the dirt. With helpless hands, Jeryn gives a grunt as she attempts to pull it back up. The darling she is, the training sword is still too heavy for her. 

Claude gives a short chuckle from where he stands, leaning on one of the pillars bordering the training ground area. His heart softens at the sight of Byleth shaking his head, a little grin making itself known upon his lips, and Claude wants to kiss his husband silly. His _husband_ . _His_ husband. Oh gods above, Claude is never going to get over it. 

Despite the traditionalist ideals he prides himself on, Claude has never had the traditional family. His memories of his parents were faint, while his grandfather and House Riegan never had a large presence in his life. For the longest time, it had only been Claude on his own to fend for himself… until Byleth came along and painted his life in stars, in miracles, in love. 

“Here, darling, let me get it for you,” Byleth says as he pulls the sword from the ground. He kneels beside Jeryn who looks at him with wide eyes. “Hold it like this--” and Byleth places the hilt of the sword in her hands again and then grabs her fingers to wrap them around the hilt. He encases her tiny hands in his huge palms. “Hold them tightly, lest the blade falls into the dirt again.” 

Claude finds himself nodding along to Byleth’s instructions; it feels like only yesterday he was a student at the Officers Academy and Byleth was teaching him how to perform a Wrath Strike. Now, it was Byleth teaching their child (their _daughter_ ) how to hold a sword. He can’t wrap his head around it quite yet.

Jeryn nods and gives an affirmative sound, her hands shaking just the slightest bit as she raises the sword. She’s a lovely little thing, a positively perfect mixture of Claude and Byleth, with brown curls and wide pale green eyes, with Claude’s tactical brilliance and Byleth’s prodigal skills in weaponry. She’s a wonder and a miracle that Byleth brought into the world just for them, and Claude wouldn’t trade her for anything. 

Eventually (with Byleth’s guidance), Jeryn is able to raise the sword above her head. She stands in front of a battered training dummy, one of the smaller ones made with cloth and feathers. Claude had specifically asked for the smaller dummies, worried that the sword could bounce off of the regular wooden dummies and the ricochet could throw his little angel onto the hard ground and hurt her and -- he just loves his daughter a lot, okay? With her face hardened into a glare of concentration, Jeryn shifts on her feet to accommodate the weight of the sword above her head and gives a little roar as she brings it downward on the dummy. 

It doesn’t bounce off thankfully, as Claude feared. His baby isn’t strong enough to get a real decent hit in yet, but she yells in victory anyway, shaking her tiny fist in the air. A bright warm feeling spreads through Claude’s chest as Jeryn laughs and jumps in the air at her own success. Byleth stands near her, a soft smile on his face and an adoring gaze betraying his crossed arms. 

_They’re so happy_ , Claude thinks, _they’re so real, they’re so lovely, they’re_ mine. And for some reason, the thought rings in his head. The warmth in his chest spreads out through the rest of his body, like gentle waves pushing against the shore. _They’re mine… my husband, my daughter, my_ family… 

_My home._

Claude can’t stop himself from choking on a sudden cry, his panging heart wrapped in so much love and warmth. He grabs at his chest with one hand, leaning against the pillar with the other as tears make their way down his face and evolve into open mouthed, heaving sobs. They _are_ his family, his home, Byleth and Jeryn, his wonderful, beautiful family that he would do anything for, a gorgeous piece of heaven that Claude never thought he would achieve. And yet here they are, right in front of him and they are _his_. He smiles at the thought, and chokes out another wet sob.

He doesn’t realize how loud he’s being or how long he’s been crying, but at one point Claude realizes that Byleth has made his way across the training grounds to hold him in his arms. The strength and comfort of his embrace pulls Claude out of his overwhelm, and he looks up to be greeted with Byleth’s concerned, searching eyes. 

“Are you alright, my love?” Byleth murmurs, his eyes scanning Claude’s face and wiping his tears with a gentle thumb. The pet name and the act of affection combined breaks Claude further, making him cry even harder. Gods, Byleth always knew what to do, how to comfort and soothe him, how to make him feel like everything was okay. But he nods, sniffling and whimpering a little bit as he reaches to clutch at Byleth’s back.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay,” Claude says, voice wavering as he stumbles through his words. Byleth’s eyes soften and the gentle rubbing of his thumb against Claude’s cheek becomes featherlight. He flushes at Byleth’s touch and averts his eyes, because _gods_ he really is just a huge crybaby. “I just got really emotional out of nowhere--”

“Papa?” Jeryn’s voice suddenly pipes up, and Claude looks down when he feels her pull on his pant leg. Her bright green eyes are wide and curious, probably wondering why her papa was crying after her little victory. Oh, his precious darling, his wonderful little miracle, his beautiful daughter, could he have asked for anyone sweeter? 

Sniffling, he lets go of Byleth to pick Jeryn up in his arms, shuts his eyes and kisses her forehead. She hums and gives a closed-eye smile, pleased to be given physical affection. Byleth also moves to hold the both of them, an arm around Claude’s waist and one on Jeryn’s back as he presses a kiss both to her temple and Claude’s. Oh, how Claude loves and adores them, his delightful precious family.

“Yes, my most wonderful little wyvern?” Claude replies in a soft voice, his eyes still closed. He feels Byleth hum in amusement at the pet name from the way his chest buzzes with warmth. Comparing his tiny daughter to a powerful beast of the sky was almost ludicrous. But Jeryn was just as ferocious and magnificent as any wyvern Claude had ever met. Her heart was as big as Claude’s, as every bit loyal as Byleth. 

“Why are you crying, Papa?” Jeryn says and reaches to place her hands on either side of Claude’s face. “Are you sad?” Her eyes are questioning, her brows knit in confusion, and she looks just like Byleth in this moment, it’s ridiculously bewitching. It makes him choke on another sob, another wave of tears flowing down his cheeks, and Jeryn makes a noise of surprise. 

“Don’t be sad, Papa, me and Daddy are here!” she says, and throws her arms around him in frantic efforts to get Claude to stop crying. “Daddy, please hug Papa, he’s sad!” The arm around Claude’s waist gets tighter, and Byleth presses another kiss to Claude’s face, this time in between his brows. 

“I’m here, my beloved,” Byleth murmurs. “I’ll always be at your side, for as long as you’ll have me. So like Jeryn said, please don’t be sad anymore.” Claude’s heart pangs again heavily at his husband’s words, and he whimpers, biting at his lip to stop from crying even harder than before. 

“If you would stop saying such sappy things and sounding like you mean it, I could stop crying,” Claude replies, the violent shake in his voice betraying the snark he attempts to apply. Byleth just hums against Claude’s temple, _But I do mean it, with everything I am_. Claude trembles and gulps down another sob. He’s going to melt into the ground at this rate, gods he’s such a mess. He still has to answer his daughter. 

“Jeryn, my sweet one,” he whispers, stroking her soft hair and breaking into pieces, “I’m not sad at all. Papa is just so happy that it made his heart go crazy and want to cry, because guess what? Papa loves you and Daddy so much.” Gods, he does, he does love Jeryn and Byleth so much his heart really was going to burst. At his own words, he begins to cry again, shaking and rocking on his heels. “Papa loves you both so much because you make him so, so happy, my little wyvern.”

“Papa is happy?” Jeryn says, tilting her head to the side, and Claude nods tearfully, smiling down at his lovely little angel. “If Papa is happy-crying, then I’m happy-crying too!” And scrunching her nose, Jeryn tries to make herself cry and she’s so adorable, so cute, and so undeniably Byleth that Claude laughs and presses a kiss to her forehead again. 

“My little one, my god-shattering star,” he whispers, tears streaking down his face still, “you broke through the surface of the heavens to be here with me and I couldn’t be more grateful.” He looks at Byleth, who gazes at him with the utmost adoration and love in his eyes that Claude wants to break into a million pieces. “My love,” he says, his voice soft and reverent. “You’ve gifted me a brilliant little star from the apex of the world to have as my own, as ours. My friend, my dearest, my piece of heaven… I love you more than words could ever tell.”

Byleth hums again. “Don’t sweat it,” he says in a blunt tone, “it was the least I could do for you.” And through tears, Claude rolls his eyes hard at his husband’s intentionally simple words; even after all these years, he is still a man of few words. Claude wouldn’t have it any other way. Even after all these years, Byleth still smiles at him with the same fond look in his eyes. 

“I love you too.”

That’s all that he really needs to say to convey the extravagant amount of love Byleth has for him; Claude knows this, he knows it well.

“So are you happy now?” Byleth says. He’s poking some fun at him, continuing Jeryn’s previous statements about Claude being sad. 

And Claude looks at him, his pale green eyes warm and fond, the grin on his lips quiet and affectionate. He looks at Jeryn in his arms, who has long since given up on crying on demand and made herself busy playing with Claude’s cravat. Her giggles are pure, lovely and sweet as she is, as thoughtful and genuine as her father. 

“I was always happy,” Claude says, his voice still soft, “to meet you, to be with you, to find you, and to love you.” A gentle smile forms on his lips, as gazes fondly at Jeryn. “To have this little miracle you’ve given me, to have you at my side.” He looks back up at Byleth and his smile widens. “But yes.”

_I’m finally happy now._

**Author's Note:**

> welcome back! i hope you liked the fic and it was as sugary sweet as you wished domestic fluff would be!
> 
> you might be wondering, how the hell did they have a kid that looks and acts exactly like them???? the answer is i don't know she probably fell out of the sky because byleth is literally god and claude wanted a kid. sothis is ghost-babysitting queen shit :fist: :pensive:
> 
> anyways i wrote the rest of this thing while eight by iu was on repeat because i was in my feelings at 3-5am and when she said "so are you happy now? finally happy now?" that really hit stream eight i promise it's good asf
> 
> PLEASE leave kudos and comments i'm begging u i'm starving for validation
> 
> you can also follow me or interact with on twitter @kthfaire or drop a nice message in my cc curiouscat . me/kthfaire ;0
> 
> much love <3


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